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Opera Music Plot Synopsis
Rimsky Korsakov: May Night
Near a Little-Russian village stands, at the lakeside, a
haunted house. Here,
according to legend, there dwelt a Pole, whose second marriage
brought upon his
daughter a stepmother's hatred. Despair drives the girl to
drown herself.
Becoming a ``russalka,'' she contrives to lure her enemy into
the water, but the
stepmother, now one of many water-nymphs, can no longer be
identified.
This story is told by Levko, the son of the village Headman,
to Hanna, his
betrothed. His father, a rival, refuses his consent to their
union. Levko,
overhearing the addresses paid by the Headman to Hanna, prevails
upon some
friends to ``bait'' his father. The Headman, incensed by an
uproar outside his
house, rushes out, and in the dark incarcerates his sister-in-law,
whom he
mistakes for the ringleader. He then discovers that his son
is to blame, and
hurries off in search of the culprit. The same night Levko,
singing before the
haunted house, is requested by the Pannochka (Polish) russalka
to establish the
identity of her stepmother, and, succeeding, is rewarded with
a letter,
apparently in the handwriting of a high official, commanding
the Headman to
expedite the marriage of his son with Hanna.
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